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I may chat about my books, what I'm writing or reading, or just general thoughts. You may read posts about my cats or just my crazy life in general. Comments are welcome, if anyone wants to interact with me. Maybe we can share war stories, whether it's writing related or just about life in general.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Do we really need saving from ourselves?

Apparently, the government thinks so. They have so many regulations that it’s
impossible to buy almost anything that fits your needs these days. I’m talking about appliances, folks.

This is the new Samsung washer and dryer set. We even got covers to protect the tops from scratches

All we wanted to do was get a new washer and dryer. Our old washer bit the dust a little over a
month ago. We sold the dryer, which
still worked, so we could get a matching set.
We figured it would go out soon anyway since we bought both units at the
same time.

We spent our next day off shopping for a new washer and
dryer. We did look on Craigslist first,
but found nothing. The prices of
appliances today will make you faint from shock. Nothing is even reasonable.

This is the new Samsung washer

We finally bit the bullet and bought one at Lowe’s. Whatever you do, do not buy a Samsung. The nicest thing about this set is the little
song it plays when your clothes are done.
I’m serious! The washer has a
nice big stainless tub but it doesn’t get hot water in it, even when the hot
button is selected. I can hold my hand
under the water because it’s lukewarm.
The water in my laundry sink two feet away has scalding water. The next issue is the water level, which
doesn’t even cover the clothes. So to do
that, I have to fill a bucket with water in the laundry sink and then add it to
the washer once it’s started going.
Another issue with this washer is that it does a crazy dance in the
beginning, which is supposed to even out and balance the load. Well you guessed it, all the clothes end up
on one side of the washer tub. I have to
put the machine on pause to get it to unlock and then redistribute the clothes
by hand.

Now for the dryer, it doesn’t dry. I swear you can set it on hot and run it
three hours and the clothes still aren’t dry.
The people at Lowes and the manufacturer said it’s to protect the
consumer and use less energy. It's designed to be less hot. Well,
running it three times as long is not saving any energy! Please, please STOP trying to protect us from
ourselves! By this stage in life, we
know how to use a washer and dryer.

Naturally, we’re very disgusted with this whole issue. The best thing about it is that it looks nice
and the song it plays, as I mentioned earlier.
We’re getting Lowes to pick up this piece of crap and give us our money
back. But this took a lot of negotiation. Naturally, at first they wanted us to contact
customer service. We only had this set a
month. There was no way that was
happening.

This is the inside of the Samsung washer

So now it’s back to washer and dryer shopping again. The only good thing that’s come out of this
whole mess is that I got to wash the king comforter instead of having it
dry-cleaned. The tub on the washer is
huge, but even then I had to add several buckets of water during that process
and the thing would never dry so we brought two ladders into the house and hung
it over those overnight.

I think we’re looking at industrial this time so it will
last the rest of our lives. The
government hasn’t gotten their hands into those yet, at least not that we know
of. More on all this later.

6 comments:

It is also frustrating to shop for appliances knowing they will only last a few years. When our parents and grandparents purchased appliances, they could expect them to last for decades. What kind of progress is that?

They cost more and wear out sooner. That's the way they make things these days. We haven't made any progress in that area, if you ask me. Just a nice, old fashioned washer and dryer would be fine with me. It's hard to find one these days.

We bought a new set when we moved this past spring. I think it is Whirlpool, so far so good. It does have the water saving mode and I haven't figured out when the load is done, so I would like a song to let me know when it was done. Good luck shopping.

The best part about this set is the song. It's a nice tune that goes on at least a minute so you'll hear it I guess. Not sure what we'll end up with but it will have an agitator, I hope, and put more water in the machine so you won't get streaks of laundry soap on your dark clothes. And I don't get that because you only use two tablespoons of soap in the thing. It's very frustrating.

The reason they wear out sooner is because of planned obsolescence, not government intervention. Although, it sounds like you got a dud pair. Corporations want you to buy a new one every so often (so they can make money), so they make sure that things wear out so you'll have to.

Good luck on finding a good set. I'm sure some have to be out there. Have you tried Consumer Reports?

I'm sure there's some truth to what you say about the wear out factor. No, I haven't tried consumer reports but we looked all over town yesterday and I think maybe we'll get a Speed Queen. It's industrial with an agitator and they use them a lot in dorms and in laundromats. All parts are metal and they have no digital stuff in them at all. They still fill the tub with water, etc. And have a stainless steel tub and 25 year warranty.

My neighbor suggested I try Consumer Reports too. I still may do that.